This version, Version 3.1 - 25 November 2010, is not current. Please review the current Privacy Policy here.
Previous version 3.0 - 23 August 2010
3.1 Changes: Added information about changes to Medium privacy.
Voxilate, Inc. takes your privacy and the security of your data seriously. This privacy policy describes the types of personal information we collect when you visit our Web Site and when you use our mobile applications, and how this information is used. By using Voxilate Applications (such as HeyTell) and Web Sites (Voxilate.com and HeyTell.com), you agree to this privacy policy and our Terms of Service, so please read both carefully!
The Voxilate web site and HeyTell service, like many Web sites and client-server mobile applications, track basic information about their visitors which includes, but is not limited to, IP addresses, browser and operating system type, timestamps, and referring pages. In addition, Voxilate collects information about which application screens you access to improve the application and assist in troubleshooting application issues. Voxilate does not use any of this information to personally identify specific users, but rather for administration, maintenance, service improvement, and aggregate analytics purposes. Voxilate does not itself currently use cookies to store user information (although third party services that Voxilate employs may - see Third Party Sites, below). In the event that there are changes to what and how we collect web site and mobile application data, we will update our privacy policy accordingly and post it here.
To identify you to the HeyTell service and connect you with other users, HeyTell collects some personally identifying data about you. The transmission of voice recordings and location data allows Voxilate to provide the HeyTell service. Use of your device's GPS feature allows the integrated Google Maps functionality to share your location with your conversation partner. The storage of your list of friends allows you to contact friends and also allows users with Medium privacy levels to contact each others friends. See the sections that follow for details about each of these types of information, how Voxilate uses them, how you can exclude our collection in some cases, and what our policies are with regard to data retention of this information.
Voxilate, Inc. will never share your name, email addresses, phone numbers, geolocation data, or voice recordings with third-parties, other than those required to facilitate the service (and discussed in this document, so please read on!) and other users of the service with which you communicate, without your express permission unless you give your consent or as required by law. In addition, data is encrypted with SSL when transmitted over the Internet to avoid interception by malicious users. By using the service, you agree that you are solely responsible for the information you share with other users of the system and understand that you do not have to share phone numbers or email addresses to use the service.
Voxilate collects the following information about you based on the information included in the Contact that you select as your HeyTell Identity:
- Your name
- Your phone numbers, if any
- Your email addresses, if any
Your email address may be used to:
- Verify that someone attempting to contact you actually knows you or a HeyTell friend (if you are using a medium privacy setting)
- Send you an email message asking you to verify your email account(s) in order to verify your HeyTell account (this prevents another user from impersonating you on the service)
- Solicit your feedback on our product and features
- Respond to customer service matters, including but not limited to downtime or account maintenance
At any time, you can opt-out of these messages by sending an email to opt-out@voxilate.com from the email account you'd like to remove from our messaging services. You are also free to use a contact with a non-primary, "throwaway" email account - but definitely use one that you yourself own to avoid user collisions. Your contacts may also be unable to find you (unless you provide them with this email address to add to their address book when attempting to contact you or you contact them first).
TO REMOVE OR MODIFY ANY CONTACT INFORMATION FROM THE HEYTELL SYSTEM: In addition to contacting Voxilate (opt-out@voxilate.com or support@heytell.com) to remove you from the system, you can also remove or modify your information by modifying the contact you use as yourself and removing or modifying the entries you would like to change. This will update Voxilate systems immediately, provided you have Internet access.
Voxilate will never use your phone number to contact you without your express consent: However, other users may use the phone number they have on record for you to invite you to the service via SMS. The application will allow you to invite other users via SMS and others to invite you via SMS using your phone number. Voxilate is not responsible for any carrier charges incurred by receipt or transmission of SMS invitations. NOTE THAT, in iPhone OS 4.0 and for all Android phones, YOU WILL ALSO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SMS COSTS FOR SMS INVITES YOU SEND TO OTHERS.
You can avoid transmitting your phone number to Voxilate by creating a contact in your Address Book that represents you and includes an email but does not include a phone number. However, please be advised that users will still be able to invite you to the service using SMS if they have your phone number on their phone.
You may receive invitation emails from other users of HeyTell, but those emails are sent by the user personally and do not travel through Voxilate servers. Therefore, Voxilate is not responsible for their transmission or any modification to the content that the sender may make. The sender of the invitation email is solely responsible for the content of the invitation email they transmit and its contents may also be bound by the privacy or other policies of the sender's email or cellular provider. This also applies to SMS message invites, if sent directly from the sender's phone.
If you are using low privacy, anyone who knows the contact information you set for yourself can contact you without an invitation.
If you are using medium privacy, anyone who is HeyTell friends with one of your HeyTell friends and knows the contact information you set for yourself can contact you without an invitation.
If you are using high privacy, users who you have talked to before will be able to resolve you as a contact. You will only appear in list results if you have talked using HeyTell before and have not blocked each other. You can, however, always use the SMS or email invites to connect to new contacts.
The HeyTell service allows you to receive and transmit voice recordings from person to person. As such, recordings of your voice are transmitted between your mobile device and Voxilate servers. By using HeyTell, you agree to the recording of your voice and that you have the consent of others that you record and are complying with any jurisdictional local laws regarding the recording of others. You and your contacts' voice recordings are stored in memory on the server until you and any other recipients successfully download the messages to your mobile device, at which time they are scheduled to be purged from the HeyTell servers. Note that messages exported to Facebook will remain on HeyTell servers and may be stored at Facebook as well. Any message exported to email will transit through public Internet infrastructure and can also be extracted by malicious users. While you should always avoid sending confidential information via HeyTell, you should be especially cognizant of these risks when exporting messages to Facebook or email.
Please be advised that you transmit voice recordings to contacts at your own risk. We cannot control the behavior of contacts with whom you choose to share voice or location information and therefore are not responsible for any dissemination that occurs thereby. Please be sure that you have successfully identified all contacts before exchanging any personal information.
If you use the HeyTell geolocation feature to share your location information with contacts, your GPS coordinates at the time of use are also sent to HeyTell and any third party provider/service that is required to facilitate the service (Google, Apple, your cell phone or wireless provider, or advertisers in ad-supported versions of the application—Note that in the case of ad-supported versions, only your coarse location is shared). Note that, if you do not use the geolocation feature, neither HeyTell nor its advertisers can access your location data. All personally-identifying information transmitted to these third party sites is subject to the privacy and retention policies of the respective provider. Voxilate is not responsible for their use of this data. Some advertisers allow you to opt out of their ad system. For instance, to opt-out of iAds, visit http://oo.apple.com from your mobile browser.
Voxilate does not store your GPS coordinates permanently on its servers; like your voice messages, they are ephemeral and exist in memory on Voxilate systems only until you and your recipient(s) have successfully exchanged messages. Note that GPS locations are stored on the mobile device, so that if you transmit a message on the Maps page with GPS enabled, and then disable it (or send a message from Recent Conversations), your contact may still see your old location data, but will not see your updated location.
On iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the first time you attempt to use the HeyTell geolocation feature, you will be prompted to approve or deny HeyTell access to your device's GPS functionality. On Android, this permission is granted at installation, but HeyTell will not turn on the GPS unless and until you open the Maps page. In addition, on all platforms, you will also receive a warning explaining that GPS coordinates will be collected the first time you enable Maps. Make sure that you have verified and fully trust the party with whom you share your location information (it's a good idea to exchange voice messages to verify them first!) before using the Maps page to send a message. We are not responsible for any inappropriate sharing of location or any damages that may be caused by such disclosure. To avoid sharing location data, do not open the Maps page in the application and do not send messages while the Maps page is active.
For iPhone, iPod, and iPod users: if you have granted HeyTell access to your GPS functionality and later want to revoke it, on your mobile device, visit Settings > General > Reset and click Reset Location Warnings. The next time you use HeyTell and visit the Maps page, you will again be prompted to allow access to Location and can click Don't Allow (note that you can also disable Location Services globally for all applications by setting Settings > General > Location Services to the Off position).
Voxilate, Inc. is dedicated to securing customer data and, to that end, employs security best practices to keep your data protected. As part of the effort to keep your data protected, all contact information and voice data transmitted through the HeyTell application is encrypted with an SSL connection using AES-128 bit encryption between your mobile device and the HeyTell servers. That said, there are a number of risks in transmitting any kind of data over the public Internet and allowing voice recordings to reside on a physical device, so under no circumstances should you use the HeyTell service to transmit confidential or privileged information of any sort.
Voxilate uses Google Analytics to track usage patterns of the Voxilate and HeyTell Web sites. Google Analytics collects Web page access information, including but not limited to cookies, referring links, and your IP address. Google also receives this information and their use of it is governed by their own Privacy Policy.
Future software features may require that your voice recordings be submitted to a third-party for transcription or other types of processing that require a third party. In this event, you will be presented with the option to approve or deny these types of processes before they occur. As these features are released, more detail about them as relates to your privacy will be published here.
Children under 13 years of age are required to obtain the express permission of a parent or guardian before using HeyTell or submitting personal information of any type to Voxilate, Inc. In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, if we discover that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personally-identifying information, we will remove it from our systems immediately. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 13 and discover or believe that your child has provided us with personally-identifying information, please contact us at privacy@voxilate.com and we will remove the data from our systems.
From time to time and as products are updated and new product offerings are available, Voxilate, Inc. may find it necessary to update this privacy policy. We will publish any changes here and outline the differences when the privacy policy is updated. As stated earlier in this document, Voxilate will not share personally-identifiable information with third parties without your consent unless required by law.
We take your privacy rights seriously and encourage you to exercise them if you find it necessary as it relates to Voxilate and Voxilate's software products. If you require clarification or encounter issues, contact us by email at privacy@voxilate.com or write to us at:
Privacy Issues
c/o Voxilate, Inc.
2810 N Church St #87905
Wilmington, Delaware 19802
USA